A Song for Julia by Charles Sheehan-Miles

A Song for Julia. Charles Sheehan-Miles. Cincinnatus Press. December 2012.  320 pages hbk, pbk and ebook. ISBN#: 9780988273658.

Julia is a Harvard student who lives with a memory that almost destroyed her family and probably ended her father’s career as a foreign service diplomat.  The memories are always there but she tries to live a better life free of tangled relationships because the last one resulted in a broken heart and an aborted baby.  But now Julia meets a punk rock singer, Crank Wilson is a heart-breaker with the ladies but on meeting Julia that slowly changes, more so because Julia is constantly stating she will not see him again.

So what will happen when he meets her family.  For Crank and his father, a Boston cop, and his brother, who has Asperger’s Syndrome – a form of autism, are always at odds.  They try to keep out of fights because these upset his brother who gets out of control when upset.  Crank demonstrates tremendous anger when his mother is even mentioned.  Not a happy family, to say the least!

Julia’s mother is constantly harassing her to behave “properly,” always dropping comments on how much she owes the family because of her past shame. She is a nag, in plain English, and was never present for Julia when she needed her mother the most.  Yes, she made a terrible mistake that affected everyone, but surely there must come a time when the past does not haunt the present and everyone accepts responsibility for what could have been avoided, perhaps.

A Song for Julia is a fine story about the past can distort the present and future so that the main characters are so busy protecting their emotionally wracked persons that they almost lose the joy that could move them forward into a caring, whole relationship.  Secrets are meant to be exposed and the pain of revelation with its multiple causes and effects is worth the cost of speaking truth.  Charles Sheehan-Miles brooks no hypocrisy, excuses, etc. as reasons not to be true to one’s higher nature.  In A Song for Julia, this author crafts a fictional song that is as radical as punk and as an incisive as a healing scalpel to the worst and best in human nature.

Insurgent: Book 2 of America's Future by Charles Sheehan-Miles

Insurgent: Book 2 of America's Future. Charles Sheehan-Miles. Cincinnatus Press. October 2012. 470 pp. paperback and e-book formats. ISBN #: 9780979411496.

Revolution has ripped apart America, continuing the rebellion begun in Republic: A Novel of America's Future. The people have spoken and civil war devastated America's cities. 

Valerie Murphy's father has been executed for his part in promoting violence and seceding from the American government.  She has been imprisoned and brutalized so much she is obviously suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.  Her friend, Al Clark, is now appointed Governor of West Virginia, a monumental job of putting basic services into action and restoring the shattered economy.  But the war isn't over!

An unknown group of warriors in West Virginia is still killing military personnel and shooting down helicopters approaching the area.  Corporal Jim Turville watches his friends die, falls in love, and tries to figure out who can be trusted in this blatantly volatile area.  The violence goes on and on and on!

While the first novel in this series gave ample build-up of the reasons leading to this American demise, Insurgent 2 has little to offer on the reasons and goals of the war.  It's as if death and destruction have been looming for far longer than this particular problem.  Personal freedoms are now forfeit and there seems no end to the madness! It is more potent because of the lack of reason or logic.  It is more devastating than the original Civil War because of the advanced firearm power available in this conflict!

Insurgent is the second of six planned novels.  This novel doesn't pose any "glory" scenes of war; it's hell and the reader should be deeply troubled about the reality that just could happen when people have had enough of poverty, lies, deception, mismanagement of the economy, and more - the same problems that are plaguing far too many people in America at this time.  The reader must decide how much this conflict resembles the random, erratic, and chilling brutality also exhibited in Iran, Afghanistan, and other hot spots throughout the Middle East.

Devastating to read, this is a necessary microscopic canvas of possible outcomes for the future of America! Potent stuff, Charles Sheehan-Miles!!!

Just Remember to Breathe by Charles Sheehan-Miles

Just Remember to Breathe. Charles Sheehan-Miles. Cincinnatus Press. November 2012. 290 pages - paperback. ISBN #: 9780988273608.

Alex and Dylan had what seemed to be a promising love affair while they were both foreign exchange students in Israel a long time ago.  The stint in Israel ended and each went their separate ways, believing they'd had a good thing but that it might not continue.  However, they stayed in touch until one day Dylan sees something that absolutely devastates him.  He totally switches off email and Facebook and joins the Army.  There the tragic sequence of events escalates when he and friends run over a bomb in Afghanistan, one that kills his good friend and shatters his leg in multiple spots. But the inner wounds are far deeper than that!

Chance throws Dylan and Alex together at Columbia University, where they are forced together in a work-study program for a drunken professor seeking research for another book. It's quite clear they still are absolutely mad over each other, but they agree to a set of "Rules" in order to keep their work life together separate from their past relationship.  Rules, it is said, remember, are made to be broken!

To say more would spoil a poignant story of love surviving trauma of the highest order.  For Dylan has a past haunting his present behavior, a past he doesn't ever want to repeat or inflict on a loved one.  Add to that the tremendous fury and guilt resulting from his Afghanistan time and what we clearly know to be post-traumatic depression and more.

In spite of the heavy background and tension-ridden scenes, this is a novel of hope and forgiveness.  The theme of healing and wholeness is stronger than the wreckage of war, stronger than the havoc of family misunderstandings.  The characters get stronger.  No naive scenes fill these pages; sheer cusp-cutting dialogue cuts through the nonsense, avoiding annoying repetition and insisting on change rather than pity.  The romance is hot and honest as well!

It's a refreshing, necessary point of view that we need to hear more of in this decade when soldiers are returning from single or multiple tours of duty, some to be treated in a similar manner and others to be ignored.  Kudos to you, Charles Sheehan-Miles, for taking on this topic and creating a novel that should be read by a wide audience!!! Just Remember to Breathe is a must read!